After Simone Biles withdrew, her friend and confidante Jordan Chiles stepped in for Team USA
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Updated: 8:40 PM EDT Jul 27, 2021
By Eric Levenson, CNN
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Updated: 8:40 PM EDT Jul 27, 2021
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I’M JARRED HILL. LISA: WE ARE NOW SEEING HOW THE COMPETITION CAN TAKE A DIFFERENT KIND OF TOLL ON ATHLETES. GULSTAN: JOINING US RIGHT NOW IS DEIRDRE FITZPATRICK LIVE FMRO DOCO. WE JUST WANTED TO TOUCH BASE WITH YOU ON THIS. WE KNOW THESE ATHLESET FACE A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF PRESSURE. THE WORLD IS WATCHING. BUT WOULDN’T SO ALSOME ARGUE THAT THAT IS PART OF THE GAME? THAT IS PART OF THE DEAL YOU SIGNED ON FOR? >> NO. [LAUTER]GH NO. I THINK THAT IS WHAT IS SO POWERFUL ABOUT THIS MOMENT. I THINK WHAT SHE DID TODAY IS ONE OF THE MOST REMARKABLE THINGS HAVE EVEREE SN IN SPORTS ANSOD METHING WE WILL TALK ABOUT IN YEARS TO COME. SHE HAS NORMALEDIZ AND SAID IT IS OK SOMETIMES TO NOT BE OK. SHE HAS COME OUT VERY PUBLICLY AND TALKED ABOUT THE CHALLENGES OF DOINGHIS T JOB, GIVEN EVERYTHING SHE HAS HAD TO DO. SHE IS REPRESENTING USA GYMNASTICS, THE VERY ORGANIZATION THAT FAILED HER AND SO MANY OTHER ATHLETES IN THE LARRY NASSAR SEX ABUSE SCANDAL, THE LARGEST SPORTS SCANDAL IN HISTORY. SHE IS REPRESENTING THAT ORGANIZATION. SHE HAS MADE IT VERY CLEAR HOW DIFFICULT THIS HAS BEEN TO MAKE THE DECISION TO MECO FORWARD AND TO BE WILLING TO DO THIS AGAIN. WHEN ATHLETES LIKE SIMONE BILES OR MICELHA PHELPS, WHO HAS ALSO SET VERY SIMILAR THINGS ABOUT THE TOLL ON HIS NTALME HEALTH THAT BNGEI AN OLYMPIAN AND HAVING THE WORLD’S EXPECTATIONS ON HIS SHOULDERS HAS HAD ON HIS LIFE, WHEN THEY COME FORWARD AND SAY, I’M NOT OK, IT MAKEITS OK FOR THE REST OF US TO ADMIT THAT SOMETIMES WE ARE NOT OK EITHER. WITH WHAT SHE DS,OE WITH THE AWARENESS SHE NEEDS TO BE ABLE TO DO ATTH JOB, SHE KNEW WHEN SHE DID THAT MOVE ON THE VAULT TODAY SHE COULD NOT EXECUTE IT. AND SHE KNEW THAT NOT ONLY WAS SHE PUTNGTI HER OWN HEALTH AT RISK, SHE WAS ALSO PUTTING THE TEAM AT RISK FOR MALINGED PERIOD. TO BE ABLE TO SAY, I NEED TO PULL BACK IS A REALLY BRAVE THING. WHAT SHE DID NEXT SISO TELLING. SHE DID NOT DISAPPEAR, SHE WENT RIGHT BACK OUT THERE. SHE BROUGHT THE CHALK TO THE OT HER WOMEN. SHE CHEERED THEM ON. SHE DID NOT HIDE EVEN THOUGH SHE KNEW THE WORLD WAS STARING AT HER, WONDERING WHAT WAS GOING ON. I ACTUALLY THINK THIS WILL, AS THE YEARS GO ON, BE SEEN AS A TURNING POINT, BECAUSE WHAT YOU ARE SEEING IS YOU ARE SEEING THE ATHLETES CHANGING THE CULTURE AND THE ORGANIZATION THEMSELVES. THEY ARE NOT WAITING FOR TEAM USA TO DO IT FOR THEM. GULSN:TA YOUR POINT IS WELL TAKEN. I GUESS THE QUESTION IS WHY ARE WE ONLY SEEING THIS NOW? WHY HASN’T TSHI ALREADY HAPPENED OVER YEARS AND YEARS? YOU HAVE COVEDER SO MANY OLYMPICS. WHY ARE WE JUST NOW SEEING THIS? >> BECAUSE WE ARE JUST STARTING TO ACKNOWLEDGE NOT ONLY IN SPORTS, BUT IN OUR LIFE IN GENERAL THAT THINGS ARE HARD. AND THAT MENTAL HEALTH IS IMPORTAN T.IT WAS ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO TTHA STARTED SEEING MORE SPORT PSYCHOLOGISTS COMING INTO EVERY SINGLE SPORT, BUT ORIGINAYLL A SPORT PSYCHOLOGIST WAS TEACHING YOU HOW TO TGE IN THE HEAD OF YOUR COMPETITOR AND KEEP THEM OUT OF YOUR HEAD SO YOU CAN WIN. NOW THAT SPORT PSYCHOLOGIST IS COACHING THE ATHLETES INTO HOW TO KEEP THEIR HEADS OK, SO WHEN THEIR SPORTS ARE OVER THAT THEY WILL BE OK. WHAT THEY WERE SEEING IS A LOT OF THESE ATHLETES WOULD FINISH WITH THEIR ATHLETIC CAREERS AND THEY MIGHT BE 28, 29 YEARS OLD, AND THEY HAVE NEVER HELD A REGULAR JOB LIKE THE REST OFS, U AND THEY COULD NOT DO IT, BECAUSE THEY HAD ONLY HAD ONE WAY OF LIFE. SO, THE MENTAL HEALTH PART OF ISTH PROGRAM HAS REALLY BEEN ABOUT THE LEGACY OF THE OLYMPIAN, WHAT WILL YOU DO NEXT? LET’S GUIDE YOU SO THAT TRANSITION IS EASIER. IN THE LAST YEAR WITH A PANDEMIC, THEY LIKE US HAVE HAD TO ADJUST TO A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT KIND OF LIFE. SO THEY HAVE HA24D HOUR HOTLINE’S SET UPS OF THESE ATHLETES IN THEIR DARK MOMENTS COULD CALL FOREL HP AND THEY HAVE NORMALIZED IT TO MAKE IT OK FOR PEOP TO LEBE ABLE TO SAY, I’M NOT OK RIGHT NOW. SO FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE BIG TEAMS, THEY COULD LEAN ON EACH OTHER, BUT FO PEOPLE IN THE INDIVIDUAL SPORTS, IT COULD BE VERY HARD TO DO. ON THE PODCAST THE LASCOT UPLE OF MONTHS, WE TOOK AN ENTIRE MENTAL HEALTH THEME AND EVERY TIME I WOULD STOP A RECORDING, I ULWOD ALWAYS HEAR SOMETHING FROM AN ATHLETE THAT WAS REALLY HONEST, REALLY VULNERABLE, AND REALLY DARK. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM, LIKE THE RESTF O US, HAS STRUGGLED THIS YEAR. TODAY, YOU SAW PERHAPS THE MOST VISIBLE EMPXALE OF SOMEONE AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD,HO W EVERYBODY IS COUNT